Magis report 

Update: Ethics Olympiad

Congratulations to our Senior Ethics Teams on their outstanding results in the Australasian division of the Ethics Olympiad last Friday. The achievements of both our Senior Ethics Teams were recognised at our Secondary Assembly yesterday. Our Year 10 Team came fourth and received an honourable mention from the judges, particularly as they had competed against older students. And our Year 12 team came first! This was a very special moment for our Year 12s, who have competed together for a number of years and have won silver and bronze medals at both the Australasian and International levels. This win means they will now represent the College at the International final, which will take place next term, competing against teams from Canada, the US, New Zealand, and Hong Kong to name a few – and we wish these students every success. Congratulations to both teams on this wonderful achievement.

Our Year 10 Senior Ethics Team:

• Chloe Bell
• Isabelle Greenwood Hayes
• Noa Mintz
• Charlie Pronk

Our Year 12 Senior Ethics Team:

• Gemma Bailey
• Meg Cleary
• Meg Derbyshire
• Asha Paton
• Sky Pineda Beasley

Update: College Chess Tournament

Round 3 of our College Chess Tournament was held on Monday. Well done to all those who took part, and congratulations to the students who are progressing to the next round. Round 4 will be the final preliminary round before students progress to the quarter finals. Due to senior school exams, there will be an adjournment over the next two weeks, with the tournament recommencing in Week 17. 

Update: Mock Trials & Debating

Tuesday night was a VERY busy evening for Magis, with two competitions taking place simultaneously. Firstly, I would like to congratulate our Mock Trials Team on an outstanding win. Round 2 of the Law Society of Western Australia Mock Trial Competition was held at the WA Supreme Court. Our team went up against Sacred Heart College - appearing for the Accused in a criminal matter. Specifically, the Accused was charged with breaching the terms of a Family Violence Restraining Order (FVRO) pursuant to section 61 of the Restraining Orders Act 1997. There is a lot of preparation involved in the lead up to trial, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the students who, despite their busy schedules, enthusiastically attended lunchtime meetings.  

Our Round 2 Team included:  

• Junior Barrister: Asha Paton
• Senior Barrister: Thomas Syminton
• Instructing Solicitor: Henry Elkington
• Witness 1 (“The Accused”): Hannah Johnson
• Witness 2: Meg Cleary
• Judges Associate: Lucy Galvin

Our success continued with Round 3 of the WA Debating League (WADL) Schools Debating Competition (SDC), with majority of our teams securing a decisive win in their impromptu debates. Special thanks to Mr Webber (English Department) for his supervision on the night. 

Our debating students are now preparing for Round 4, which will be held on Tuesday 28 May (Week 16) at Christ Church Grammar School (CCGS) - with debates commencing at 5:15, 6:15 or 7:15pm. As this round is an impromptu debate, teams will be required to arrive at the venue an hour and 15 minutes before their scheduled debate time. Below is a copy of our team fixtures, which students have access to through Teams. Students decided on their Round 4 speaker order at yesterday’s debating meeting. Parents can also find a copy of the full SDC draw on the WADL website. We wish all our debating teams the best of luck with their Round 4 debates.

What’s happening next week?

Heats will continue for our College Public Speaking Competition and we look forward to announcing our grand finalists in next week’s newsletter. Meetings and training sessions also continue for Debating and World Scholars. Homerooms will be busy selecting their participants for our next Academic Challenge which will be Humanities, Art, Language and Literature. This challenge will take place in Week 16, in conjunction with HASS Week.

Save the Date

The Grand Final of the 2024 College Public Speaking Competition will be held on Thursday 6 June (Week 17) at 6:30pm in the Gonzaga Barry Lecture Theatre (GBLT). Invitations will be sent to the parents and guardians of our grand finalists in due course, but we would like to take this opportunity to extend the invitation to the wider College Community. It is sure to be a wonderful evening with the extraordinary talents of our students on display. We are excited to have a panel of esteemed Magis Alumni, who will have the difficult task of deciding the top public speaker from each year group. 

MAGIS: OPPORTUNITIES TO DO MORE!

Creative Edge Thinking  

The Creative Edge Problem Solving Challenge is an innovative educational competition providing students with motivating challenges that will develop both critical and creative thinking skills. Students compete in teams to solve an open-ended challenge in one of the following disciplines: Literature and Communication or Society and Environment (HASS). This year’s regional final will be held at Curtin University. For more information, please see the Head of Magis. Expressions of interest are due by Friday 23 August (Week 16). 

Tournament of Minds 

Tournament of Minds (TOM) is an international problem-solving program for teams of students. TOM’s aim is to enhance the potential of our youth by developing diverse skills, enterprise, time management, and the discipline to work collaboratively within a challenging and competitive environment. Teams will be required to solve demanding, open-ended challenges in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) discipline. Regional and State Finals are to be held at Edith Cowan University in September, with the International Final to be held in Sydney in November. For more information, please see the Head of Magis. Expressions of interest are due by Friday 23 August (Week 16). 

Term 2 Calendar

You can keep up to date with Magis events by following the Term 2 calendar, which can be accessed by clicking on the link below. 

Daisy Farley

Head of Magis - Gifted & Talented Program